


Share the Pain

by Zephyyrz



Category: Echo (Visual Novel 2019)
Genre: Furry, Gay, M/M, Slow Burn, Spoilers, implied sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zephyyrz/pseuds/Zephyyrz
Summary: A surprise text Flynn gets from Leo sparks a chain of events leading him to meet Leo's neighbor, Kudzu. They're both kinda weirded out by each other, but maybe it'd be nice to meet someone new in Echo for a change.Heavy spoilers for Flynn's, Leo's and Jenna's routes, and Benefits. Do not read if you haven't at least played those.
Relationships: Flynn Moore/Carl Hendricks, Flynn Moore/Kudzu
Kudos: 5





	1. See Ya

“I still don’t fucking believe this,” I half-whisper as I begin the long drive down Carl’s driveway. 

“Eh, it’s pretty weird,” the ram remarks, “but at least this means he doesn’t hate us, I guess.” 

“There has to be some reason for it, though. I mean, you know as well as me that he’s never wanted to hang out with us since…”

“...since what?”

“You know exactly what, dumbass. Geez, I haven’t even seen his house in forever.” I turn off of the driveway onto the road, actually starting to get anxious at the prospect of seeing Leo again. Not that I’m afraid of him, but the way he was acting when Chase was leaving was really… well, really fucking scary. There’s no other way to put it. Maybe I am afraid of him. 

“Do we know if he even likes fishing?” I ask Carl, trying to find any way out of this situation.

“Dude, you know I fucking hate it and I still come along when you invite me.”

“But he wasn’t even invited! He’s just bringing himself along!” I’m almost yelling at this point, and have to pause to calm down. 

“Anyway, I come for you, not for the fishing,” Carl says wryly, and this finally gets a smirk out of me.

“Well, I can only hope Leo’s not coming for me.” I say that without really knowing how sincerely I mean it, and I doubt Carl does either by the way he looks at me. Leo is… attractive, undeniably, but based on how he was acting the last time I saw him, I’d like to think I’m better than that. Probably.

“You could have just told him no if you don’t want him there,” Carl says.

“Yeah, but then _I’d_ be the asshole, right?” I reply. “Even with… everything, I still don’t feel like completely abandoning him yet. That would be the nail in the coffin.”

“Awwww, you do care!”

I punch his shoulder. 

“Hey, hands on the wheel, goddamn.”

I don’t think I punched him hard enough.

“I’m just hoping it’s not too awkward, I guess,” Carl mumbles, shrugging his shoulders.

“What, do you think we’re all gonna hang out and it’ll be friendly and fun, just like old times, or whatever? That’s not gonna happen.”

“That’s not what I said at all.” He’s right, of course. “Just hoping it won’t be a cringefest. Like I said, it’s not like he hates us. I’m guessing he’s just finally gotten over what happened and just wants to hang out again, or something. I don’t know.” Carl sighs before continuing, “But, yeah, you’re right, it is weird. I’m not exactly dying of excitement.”

That’s certainly an understatement. I’m fucking dreading it. “Whatever, man. Hopefully you’re right.”

That conversation must have taken longer than I thought, cause it carried us all the way to Leo’s house. I’m actually starting to get butterflies in my stomach. Just a little. I park on the road, but I don’t see him anywhere. 

I take a deep breath. “Okay… okay, I’ll text him we’re here,” I tell Carl, before my attention is grabbed by a strangely perfect-looking yard in front of us. It’s a huge contrast to the shitty-looking trailer it seems to belong to. Hell, it’s a contrast to the entire rest of Echo. Last I remember, Leo’s neighbor was an old mouse guy, and his yard was covered in wild-looking sagebrush and weeds. I don’t think that guy did this. This yard is landscaped, with little shrubs in organized rows on the sides, and it even looks like there’s a garden in the back. 

Carl seems to notice it as well, as he chimes in with, “Damn. Who did that? That house was ugly as hell before.” 

“No idea. Does he have new neighbors, maybe?”

My question is immediately answered when a little raccoon guy wearing work gloves walks out the front door. I don’t recognize him at all. He turns to walk to the side of the house, but then sees my truck and stops, looking confused.

“I think I’ve seen him before, actually,” Carl speaks up.

“Really? Where?”

“Well, only a couple times, and only after I came back from Pueblo. I’d be just chilling on our deck or in the back or wherever, and see a raccoon walk by at the bottom of the hill.”

“You? Outside?”

“Shut up, even I need fresh air every once in a while. Sometimes smoking outside when it’s getting dark is like… an experience, you know?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Where does he even go? Your house is so out of the way.”

“I dunno, guess he just walks around?”

Echo is the last fucking place I’d wanna ‘walk around.’ What’s this guy been doing all the way by Carl’s house? I turn back to look at the raccoon and our eyes meet for a split second before his dart away. He continues over to the side of the house. Was he just standing in that spot staring at us that whole time?

A paw glides into my view. Carl honks the horn, scaring the everloving shit out of me. The raccoon, though, seems unfazed and just turns his head in our direction. 

“What the FUCK was that?” 

“Trying to get Leo out here. You never texted him.”

“Well, that guy’s gonna think we honked at him, isn’t he?” I motion toward the raccoon, who’s looking at me with the most deadpan stare I’ve ever seen. He’s obviously not amused.

“Whoa, hey guys, sorry!” Leo’s door flings open and the wolf comes clumsily bounding out, taking my thoughts off the raccoon and back to him. I’ve seen him here and there, but haven’t really talked to him in person in months, and I for some reason feel a huge sense of dread when I see him now. I’m just glad Carl is here.

“Hey, Kud,” Leo says as he waves to his neighbor. The raccoon halfheartedly raises a hand at him in response.

“...Kud?” Carl whispers to me. I just shrug, both of us confused by this guy’s name.

“Kudzu’s his real name,” Leo says to us, apparently hearing Carl. “I just call him Kud for short though.” He opens the back door and climbs in. He seems relatively normal, but I’m still pretty tense. Carl definitely looks like he is, too. 

“...Anyway, how you guys been? Been a while, yeah?” 

Neither of us respond immediately. God, this is awful. I glance at Carl and open my eyes wider, trying to signal him to say something. “Fine, I guess. Still kinda adjusting to being back here,” he says. 

“Yeah, I bet. Probably pretty shitty compared to fancy Pueblo, huh?” Carl doesn’t respond. “What about you, Flynn? I think I saw in the group chat, you just moved out, right?”

“Yeah, it’s… pretty cool.”

“TJ’s not coming, I guess?”

“No, he was busy with school stuff or sports or something,” I lie. Of course I wasn’t gonna fucking invite TJ too of all people when Leo asked me to. I don’t know why he didn’t just ask him himself.

“Yeah, I figured,” Leo responds. I notice Kudzu again, who’s now gotten a shovel from somewhere. He glances toward the truck again, then his head darts away when he sees me looking. What’s his deal? 

“When did he get here? Never seen him before,” I ask.

“Oh, a few months ago, in October I think. Wait, you really didn’t know he moved here in this tiny town? Don’t you work in the town hall?”

“Yep, he’s Echo’s official secretary,” Carl jibes at me, finally breaking the tense mood a little.

“Clerk,” I growl. “And my job is just to keep things organized and help people if they come in, not keep track of every single little thing that happens here.” Still, Leo does have a point. It’s weird that I’ve never heard about him, not even from my aunt mentioning him in passing. 

“Eh, it’s not a big deal,” Leo says, “he keeps to himself, mostly. Hey, that’s something you two have in common. You both hate people.”

“I don’t hate pe- the hell does that even mean?” I ask, wondering what he’s getting at. 

“Maybe we should bring him along, get him out of his shell a bit,” he suggests.

“I really don’t think-”

“Hey, Kudzu!”

I quietly groan. Carl looks at me and winces. I feel a little bad, since Leo is probably just trying to feel more comfortable, and he’s probably closer with his neighbor than either of us at this point. I just can’t fucking handle this being any more awkward. Kudzu looks over at us, but doesn’t move any closer.

“I’m heading fishing with my old friends here,” he motions to us, “did you wanna join us?”

From what I can tell, Kudzu is having the same anxious reaction as me, pretty much. He just stares back at Leo, mouth hanging open a little. His eyes then fall on Carl and I, then back to Leo. Finally, he speaks. “Uh… no, no thanks, I’m good. I… don’t really feel like fishing,” he fumbles his words awkwardly. Hearing his voice is a little jarring. He doesn’t sound super macho or anything, but his voice is a bit deeper than I expected from a little guy like him.

Leo starts talking again. “Really? Don’t you fish like, all the time-”

“I’m good, thanks,” Kudzu responds, putting his hand up to signal Leo to stop. Thank god. 

“You sure? You wouldn’t be a problem, we have room-”

“Alright, he’s not coming then,” I cut Leo off as I shift to drive. “See ya,” I say to Kudzu before abruptly stepping on the gas. I hear Carl breathe a sigh of relief. 

“Ah well,” Leo says, seeming not at all disappointed for some reason. “Maybe some other time, then. I really think you guys would like him, though. He’s kinda awkward at first, but he’s pretty cool, mellowed out. He’s just… kinda hard to get to know.”

“I’m sure,” I say, looking back at Kudzu’s house through the rearview mirror. He’s still staring at us as we drive away. Weirdo.

“Yeah, maybe,” Carl mumbles, looking out the window. Leo doesn’t say anything back. I just keep driving.

This is gonna be a long day.


	2. We Used to Be

I’m still not used to how perfect the sunsets out here are. In the city, you can hardly see any of it. Here, there’s nothing but flat land stretching all the way to the mountains. It gives a perfect view of all the colors, clouds, and emerging stars. It’s almost surreal-looking as the sky has become basically a rainbow. A stark contrast to the wrecked, abandoned train yard in front of me. This town is straight out of some kind of apocalyptic hellscape, but the sunsets are gorgeous. It’s my favorite time to just go for a walk around. It’s getting chilly and dark, though, probably time to head home. The cold nights sneak up on you if you’re not careful. I’m at least used to that from Payton. 

As I see my trailer in the distance, my mind wanders back to Leo’s friends from earlier again. I’m not aware of any other people our age in Echo, but I heard them talking about how one of them - I think it was the gila - works in the town hall here. Unless he has the same thought process as me, I have no idea why anyone our age would want to stay here. Also, this place apparently has a town hall somehow. Man, I don’t even know why Leo is still here. I guess he was staying because of his boyfriend, but if he works in Payton and the boyfriend’s gone, why not just go there with his parents?

...It’s actually really weird now that I think about it. Maybe I should try to get to know him more. He seemed to really want me to join them earlier, but I wasn’t about to go hang out with Leo and two strangers for the day. He’s… pretty talkative. We’re friendly enough, but I usually try to avoid him unless I need something. I feel kinda bad about it, but not as much now that I know he actually has friends. I’ve never seen anyone go to his house before. But if these friends live somewhere in Echo, or at least the gila… why has he never told me about them?

My thoughts have brought me back all the way to my trailer. I guess Leo’s back, his lights are on. Right now, I just feel like eating and going to bed. All that work out back earlier combined with the walk has really tired me out. As I walk around to the front of my trailer, though, I notice - the truck from earlier. It’s parked outside his house again. Did they actually come back here? I’ve never seen anyone else at his house before, and I’m outside a lot. Not that I’m suspicious of anything, just confused as to why today is the first I’m hearing of Leo’s friends.

I hear a thud, and turn to see where it came from. It’s the truck door, and the gila is standing outside… and he’s shirtless. 

He starts walking up to Leo’s house, but then sees me looking at him almost immediately. Crap. His eyes widen, and he quietly mumbles, “Oh, it’s you.” He looks away from me and awkwardly rubs the back of his head. Seems like I’ve seen something he didn’t want me to see.

I open my mouth but don’t say anything, if only because I’m intimidated by this shirtless, muscular lizard who towers over me. He scoffs, calls me a “weirdo,” then turns back to Leo’s house.

“Wait, n-no,” I say after him, grabbing his attention. He turns back to me, looking annoyed. “I just don’t really recognize you.” I mutter.

“Yeah, well, same to you,” he replies, and turns to the house again. 

“Leo’s never mentioned you,” I tell him, and he sighs before turning back to me. “I really didn’t think he had any friends other than me.”

“Not really sure if I’d use that word, ‘friend,’” he says, looking towards the house. “But we used to be, I guess.” I assume that’s why I haven’t heard about him. 

“Were you just leaving, or…”

“No, we’re hanging out in there, and I left my phone in the truck.” He pulls a really old-looking device out of his pocket and holds it up. “I think a better question is what the hell are you doing out here?” 

I was definitely not expecting this conversation to go on this long. I think it’s weirder for a shirtless guy I’ve never seen before to suddenly turn up here than it is for me to be fully clothed outside my own home, but I don’t say that. “I just like going for walks sometimes,” I respond. “The sunsets are really nice.”

“Guess you are pretty new here, huh?” he asks. 

“What do you mean by that?”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t go walking around Echo at night. If you haven’t noticed already, there’s some very questionable people who live here.”

“Well, you live here, right?”

His face turns into a scowl, and I step back from him a little. “How did you know that?”

“I overheard you guys talking before, in the truck. Leo said you work in the town hall?”

He scoffs again. “Were you listening to us the whole time?”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to listen. I was right there and your windows were down.”

He gives a deep exhale, and an uncomfortably long silence follows. I can only assume what they were doing in that house, though I’m not quite sure. I doubt Leo would’ve invited me along to go with them if they were going on a date or something, and there was a ram with them earlier, too. For all I know, the ram’s in the house with them right now. This gila seemed really taken aback when he saw me just now, though. Still, he doesn’t really seem like the type, and what would be the odds of that… but why the hell is he shirtless? Is that something other guys normally do with their friends? Just hang out shirtless-

“It was hot,” he suddenly says. It’s then I realize I’ve been absentmindedly staring at his body, and I have no idea for how long. Shit. “He doesn’t have working A/C in there, either. In case you were… wondering,” he says, looking down at his torso.

“Ah,” I say with a nod, even though it hasn’t really been hot for a few hours, especially for a reptile. Desperate to change the subject, I blurt out, “I didn’t even know this place had a town hall.” 

“...You really do hate people, huh?”

I’m taken aback by that comment. I think Leo told him something to that effect earlier, too, but I don’t think the gila quite understands what he meant by that. I look at him, then off to the side, not sure what to say.

He sighs. “Me too, man,” he half-whispers dejectedly. He once again tries to go inside Leo’s house, but I stop him.

“Wait,” I say, and he tenses up. He’s probably very annoyed at this point, but I go on, “I never got your name.”

He turns his head to the side to face me, and pauses for a moment. It’s like he has to think about it for some reason, like he doesn’t want to tell me. After a while, he quietly says, “Flynn.” He then disappears into Leo’s house without either of us saying another word. I head into my trailer in return. My mental state now in all sorts of places, I just go to splay out on the bed instead of making dinner. 

Having interacted with pretty much no one in Echo other than Leo since I moved here, that conversation was just bizarre. ‘Flynn’ just walked shirtless into my gay next-door neighbor’s house, and while I don’t want to assume anything, some assumptions pop into my head. Of course, it’s possible that they really are just good friends. If they are, I guess I wouldn’t mind hanging out with them sometime. Leo’s been nothing but nice to me, so Flynn can’t be that bad if he’s his friend. Even though I moved here to get away from people, I doubt I’ll be able to live without any social life forever. 

Though from what I realized about Leo earlier on my walk… is it possible he’s staying in Echo for Flynn? Then why haven’t I seen him before? Maybe they usually go somewhere else, but something came up and they had to come here? _And who was the ram?_

Ugh, too many questions. Maybe I should just sleep on it…


	3. My Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn gets a surprise visitor at work.

Work is usually super slow and feels like forever, but today is especially bad. I don’t like being left alone with my own thoughts for long periods of time. My head isn’t a fun place to be. Today, though, I have trouble distracting myself. I’ve been sitting at my desk staring at nothing for what feels like 20 minutes, maybe. I didn’t exactly realize the implications of what happened yesterday until this morning, but now I can’t get it out of my head:

I had sex with _Leo_. 

I guess yesterday I was just being a stupid horndog or something, cause I hate being used. He just used the excuse to fish and hang out with us to get me back to his house. Shit, he even dragged _Carl_ into it - well, not the sex, obviously. It’s not even like the sex was especially good. Well, I guess it was for a while, but… shit, this was definitely one of the most regretful fucks of my life. I had to leave after he fucking called me “otter” afterwards. It was too much. If our friendship wasn’t already nonexistent, it’s now completely fucking ruined. 

Right now, I’m not sure if I should even tell Carl. Well, I _should_ , hiding it would be worse; I just don’t know if it’s something he absolutely needs to know. I don’t think he would be super judgy, or anything, but it’d definitely be shocking. 

Even more awkwardly - for Leo more than me, I guess - Leo’s neighbor, the raccoon, also probably knows. My lies to try to cover it up were really shitty, and if I had to guess by how he was acting, he saw right through them. I haven’t been to Leo’s house in like, almost a year, and suddenly I’m walking shirtless in the front door. If he doesn’t know Leo’s gay, we could be in the clear. Since they seemed to be pretty good friends, though, I’m sure he would’ve known that by now… 

I’m taken from my thoughts by the sound of the front door opening. A rare occurrence. Robotically, I begin to ask, “Can I help y-” but I nearly choke on my words when I look to see who it is. It’s Kudzu. Why the fuck?

“Oh, hi… Flynn, right?” I just stare in confusion. After having one interaction with him, I’m not exactly his biggest fan. The way he kept pestering me with questions last night was kind of off-putting. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I really didn’t feel like seeing more of him. Still, that conversation was probably just as awkward for him as it was for me, so why is he here now? 

“Uh, yeah. Did you need something?” 

“Oh, no, not really. I just was interested in seeing what Echo’s town hall would be like. I had to ask Leo where it was.”

“Ok, well, you’ve seen it now.”

“I… just wanted to see what the inside would be like.”

“Yeah, and you’ve seen it. It’s not that interesting. If there’s nothing else you needed, you can head on out and stop distracting me.”

“Oh, I really didn’t know that you’d be here right now! It was just a coincidence.”

I give him a slight death stare, and we just look at each other for a little bit. He can tell I’m calling his bluff, just like I could tell with him last night. Eventually, he sighs, saying, “Okay, fine. Yeah, I assumed you’d be here. I just… it’s a small town.”

“And?” I like to think I can read people well, but I have no idea where this is going.

“I, uh… don’t really know anyone besides Leo.”

...Oh, I see. “And so you wanted to get to know _me_? You know I was treating you like crap, right?”

“Well, I was kinda overly curious, and I was being really nosy. My apologies.”

“...Okay, then. Accepted,” I tell him. Maybe he’s not so bad, even if he is getting on my nerves. 

“Anyway,” he continues, “I figured since you know Leo, you’d be a good place to start.” I open my mouth to tell him otherwise, but he keeps talking. “So… are you two dating, or-”

“ _What!?_ ” I yell, probably loud enough for my aunt to hear in the other room. 

Kudzu can tell he’s made a mistake. “Oh! Uh…” he stammers, then lowers his voice. “I kinda figured-”

“Can we not talk about this at my goddamn _job_?” I whisper through my teeth. He nods, seeming to get the message. I let out a long sigh, then quietly tell him, “No, we’re not dating.” 

“I assumed that’s what you meant last night, saying you ‘weren’t exactly friends,’ or whatever.”

“I said, can we not talk about this here?” 

“You brought it up again!” 

I sigh again and opt to pretend to do some work on the computer, trying to ignore him. Still, he persists, “Did you want to talk about it somewhere else?”

I look at him blankly. “Excuse me?”

“It just seems like it’s weighing on your conscience a lot.” 

“Are you a therapist or somethin’?”

“No, no, I just… I can tell you want to talk about it.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. If he seriously still wants to be around me after all this, he’s probably telling the truth about being lonely. I feel like I was trying to be as unfriendly as possible, on purpose or not. He must be desperate. And if he’s been here a couple months like Leo said… he must have been feeling this way for a pretty long time. 

“What did you have in mind?” I ask.

“Well, I know you just did it yesterday, but… fishing maybe?” he says. “I admit, Leo was right about me doing it a lot. I just didn’t feel like getting in a truck with two strangers yesterday.” 

“But you wanna go with a stranger today?” 

He opens his mouth, but doesn’t immediately have a response to that. After a moment, he says, “I usually go alone. And I don’t mind being alone, don’t get me wrong, but it’d just be nice to have someone to do it with.”

I hold back a smirk at that accidental innuendo. Do I really feel like giving this sensitive information to a relative stranger? I have to admit, though, he’s right about me wanting to talk about it. And Carl… telling him is gonna be a lot, even with how close we are. I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. Maybe Kudzu would be a good trial run. If nothing else, I can at least save him from being friends with Leo. That, and he does seem genuine. Unlike most of the town, he’s not a total crazy person, if a bit awkward and annoying.

After a lot of thought, I finally let out an “Okay, sure.” 

“Seriously?” he asks, sounding surprised.

“Don’t make me take it back.”

“Okay, okay, just wasn’t expecting you to accept, is all.”

“Maybe I normally wouldn’t have, but you’re right. I’m in a weird mood today.”

Kudzu gives a slight smile. “Alright- oh, one more thing?

“Yeah?”

“Uh… could you give me a ride there? It's kinda far to walk.”

“You don’t have a car? In Echo?”

“Nope.” He doesn’t elaborate on that. Who in their right mind would move to Echo without a fucking car? How does he get anywhere? More importantly, I’m scared that I know what he means by ‘there.’ 

I choose to ignore these questions for now, and avoid the awkwardness of trying to say that I’m not going where he thinks we’re going, and just say, “Alright then, fine. I’ll pick you up in… uh, say, four hours from now.”

“Ok, see you then.” He turns to walk out the door, but turns back to say, “And it was nice to meet you. More formally this time.”

I look at him, then back to my computer. “Yeah, see ya.” He leaves, and the door shuts behind him.

...Jesus, what have I gotten myself into?


	4. I Want Out

The ride is mostly quiet. I can tell that, even with how much of an ass he is, Flynn is way more my speed than Leo, at least for now. Normally, when Leo drives me places, I can’t get him to lay off for a second. This, though, is peaceful. It’s not really awkward or uncomfortable. Well, maybe a little. Still, it’s more just a recognition that we don’t really have much to talk about. It’d be more awkward to try to make conversation, and that’s fine with me. I think Flynn is saving his little confession for when we get to the lake. 

He looks calm, too, calmer than I’ve ever seen him, at least. Honestly, though, I’m not sure how good of an idea this was. I think I can trust him enough to get in a car with him, at least, but it’s clear I got on his nerves. I trust Leo perfectly fine, and since his and Flynn’s relationship seems to be pretty close - or at least it was at some point - I think I can trust Flynn as well.

I still have my reservations about him as a person, though. I get that I can’t just not talk to anyone forever, but Flynn doesn’t seem like the best place to start, so to speak. However, he’s one of the few people in Echo who doesn’t seem completely redneck-crazy intolerable, so my options are limited. Hopefully we just got off on the wrong foot. 

The lake starts approaching up on my right side. It’s nothing special, but it’s nice enough, and I get good catches there. Leo says it’s much nicer than it was a few years ago, which is saying something. As we get close to the entrance, though… Flynn doesn’t slow down.

“Hey, the parking lot’s up here.”

Flynn just side-eyes me. “We’re not going there,” he says, barely audible. 

My heart sinks. “We’re fishing, right? The lake-”

“We’re not going to the lake,” he half-shouts, much more sternly this time.

“Then where are you taking me?”

“There’s a pond outside of town that I like to go to. It…” he pauses. For quite a long time. “...I get more catches there, usually. Plus, we’ll have more privacy to talk about… what we wanted to talk about.” The parking lot was basically empty. It’s no problem finding privacy at Lake Emma. And that pause… 

He’s lying. 

My mind starts racing. I shouldn’t have got in a car with a relative stranger over my weird and creepy interest in him, in wanting to make friends, in trying to get over the paranoia. Look how that paid off. This is why I moved to Echo in the first place, to get away from people. I was stupid to let my guard down so easily for someone I barely know. Now I’m about to get kidnapped, or worse, dragged out to the middle of the desert and murdered. 

I’m quietly panicking as I plan my next move. My heart is pounding and I notice I’m breathing really heavily. I think Flynn notices too, as he asks me, “Are you feeling okay?”

“I want to go back.”

“Huh?”

“I want out.”

Flynn very abruptly brakes and pulls over to the side of the road. I’m still hyperventilating. He stares at me intently, and I stare back. Neither of us say anything for a while. Does he know I’m onto him? He just looks weirded out. He looks back at the road, asking again: “Are you okay?”

I should just get out of the truck and book it. I really should. But something’s stopping me. There’s some little voice in my head telling me to just trust him. I don’t know if I can.   
“I shouldn’t have done this,” I tell him. “I don’t even know you.” 

I don’t know if he gets what I mean by that. He lets out a little “hmm” and keeps looking out at the road. “I do admit, I thought it was kinda weird you wanted to hang out,” he says. “You barely know who I am and I’ve consistently been an ass to you. And this isn’t really helping your case.” He’s absolutely right. This was stupid. 

“Look,” he continues, “I think I get what you’re thinking. I still don’t want this to be a disaster, I guess. Just… how can I get you to trust me?”

I don’t have an answer to that. We both just look at each other like we did before. My breathing begins to slow. I still don’t say anything. My chance to just run is still here, yet I don’t take it. Instead, we just look at each other, and I don’t know what to say.

Eventually, Flynn sighs and puts a hand on his face, dragging it down. “Okay, look,” he tells me, “you were trying to get me to be really personal with you earlier. Now it’s my turn.” His words are intense, but his tone is calm. 

“First off, I can tell everything you said is true, about you being lonely or whatever. You’ve given me plenty of reason to assume that.” He sighs before continuing, “One of my friends is going through the same thing. I don’t know if it’s anxiety, or if it’s something else, or whatever. But with you, what just happened right now? You remind me of him. I don’t wanna see that.” He’s never spoken this sincerely. It’s shocking. 

“And doing this, this would be a good way to get out of whatever the hell’s going on with you. I think you were trying earlier, but now this shit happened. I’ll take you back if you want. But I don’t know what else I can say to get you to just trust me and go along with it.”

He’s definitely wrong in saying he ‘gets what I’m thinking,’ but even though his reasoning is wrong, he’s right. I was trying to not be isolated anymore, trying to get over what happened, and that’s exactly the opposite of what I did. I think I just rushed into it too fast. As he said earlier, I barely know him. 

Despite that, I can tell that entire rant was truly sincere. It’s hard to describe, but his tone of voice was completely different from the last times we’ve talked. It had more meaning, and I realize: he’s trying to actually _help_ me. He’s not just going along with some weird, awkward crap I’m pulling. He knew I needed this. 

“So… there really is this pond out here?” I ask.

“Yeah. I should have told you before you left earlier, but I don’t like going to the lake. I wasn’t expecting you to react like that.”

I’m guessing there’s more meaning behind that then he’s letting on, given how strongly he reacted when we passed the lake. Still, everything he said was right. I need to do this, or else I’ll be paranoid forever. 

“Alright… alright, I’ll go,” I finally say. 

For the briefest moment, I see a hint of a smile creep onto Flynn’s face, but he tries to hide it, and it’s gone as soon as it happens. “Alright,” he echoes, and shifts the truck back into drive.

* * *

The pond is somehow worse than I was expecting, even though I wasn’t expecting much. “This looks uninhabitable,” I tell Flynn. “How do you catch anything here?”

“What, you a scientist or somethin’ now?”

“Yes. Well, I was, and not on fish, but I learned enough about biology to know-”

“What do you mean, you were?”

I’d really rather not talk about this right now. “...It’s complicated. Let’s just get started.”

“Fine, then. There should still be some chairs in the truck bed that I never took out from yesterday. You can get those, and I’ll grab all the fishing stuff.” 

I do what he says, and by the time I have the chairs set up, he’s got all of our supplies ready to go. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to bring my own stuff, because we have an extra rod with us. That, or he just always keeps two in there, for whatever reason. 

We both cast our lines - Flynn’s lands a little further than mine - right into the algae bloom that’s taken over almost the entire pond. After a while of getting nothing, I’m starting to get annoyed that we came here instead. 

“You really think this pond is better than the lake?” I ask him. Once again, there’s a long pause when I bring it up.

“Maybe not for the fishing, but yeah, I’d rather be here,” he responds. 

“You said earlier that you usually get _more_ catches here.”

“Did I?” He sighs. “We’re not here to talk about the lake,” he says sternly. 

“Right, right,” I reply. Something must really be up with that place. “So, it was… you and Leo.”

“Ugh,” he groans, “this isn’t really much better.”

“Well, you agreed to it!”

“Jesus… okay, go on then. You’re the one who had all the questions.” 

“I guess… where have you been if you’re apparently such good friends with him? I’ve been here for four months and never seen you around.”

“Because I’m not ‘good friends’ with him. It’s a really long story. I’m barely friends with him at all,” he mumbles that last part. “And you can drop the act, by the way. I can tell you know what happened.”

Damn, guess I was right after all. “I mean… it was kind of obvious, I admit. I’d never seen you before, and then you were at his house like that. I didn’t know if you were a couple, or-”

“Absolutely fucking not,” he quickly interrupts. 

“Okay, okay, got it,” I tell him, nodding. “I just assumed it was that and not, uh... whatever it was. But it wasn’t hard to figure out.”

Flynn puts a hand to his head and sighs. It’s then I realize what this probably seems like. 

“Oh no, I’m-I’m not trying to condemn you, or anything!”

“No, it’s not that, but… you sure about that?” he asks, probably because of how awkwardly I said it. I debate how much I want to elaborate on that, though I decide that coming out to him right now would definitely not be a good idea. 

“I already know Leo’s gay,” I eventually say. “It’s fine. That’s kinda how I figured out what happened. He talks about his ex-boyfriend a lot.” Flynn winces and takes a sharp inhale, but then acts like he didn’t react to that at all. 

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Like I said, it’s a _very_ long story,” he answers. “Are you sure you wanna hear it? It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Leo, or his ex. Though, actually, it'd probably be good if you knew.” 

I don’t answer immediately. Would I have much reason to believe Flynn over Leo? I did realize yesterday that Leo living in Echo is kind of weird, unless he happens to be going through something like I am. Does his ex have something to do with it?

“I guess I just want to know why Leo is still here,” I reply. “If you’ve got the answer, anyway. It seems off to me, the more I think about it.”

“I’m pretty sure this story is at least part of the reason. I think he’s got his own stuff to work through, but this is probably why. Again, it’s a _lot_. Years’ worth,” Flynn tells me, sounding more distant as he goes on. 

I gesture to the pond. “Well, we’ve got time. Not like we’re catching anything out here. Go ahead.”

“Alright, buckle up,” he responds, as he prepares to tell me what he knows about Leo and Chase.


End file.
